Link= A tragic story to what had happened to a fellow Aikidoka. (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-nishikawa31-2008may31,0,6262813.story)

:(

Gernot Hassenpflug

06-01-2008, 07:51 PM

Be prepared... for the worst. It's a sad and tragic tale, to be sure. :-(

Lauren Walsh

06-01-2008, 10:32 PM

Utterly devastating - for victim and family alike. Hearing of such tradgedies always gives me a renewed appreciation for my loved ones, and the fragility of life.

Chris Parkerson

06-01-2008, 10:41 PM

Link= A tragic story to what had happened to a fellow Aikidoka. (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-nishikawa31-2008may31,0,6262813.story)

:(g

This tragic storyis but one in a now weekly drama along the U.S./Mexico Border. George Friedmanof Strategic Forecasting, Inc. (Stratfor.com) has predicted that Mexicowill soon become a failed state.

Havingworked in both Tijuana and Mexicalifor a numberof years as a security consultant, I can attest to the fact the the current crime rates are much higher than they were during the last big era of cartel wars (1996-1999). This is especially true in Tijuana where many manufacturing plants employ good men and women who, because of their decent jobs, end up on the short list to be robbed, extorted or kidnapped.

There are also many great security guards who areproud and passionate about their work who stand their watch looking for the precursors to these kinds of crimes at the industrial parks and corporate properties. On my watch, i personally saw two guards (unarmed) chase a team of armed payroll robbers who were shooting at them during their escape. Twoweeks later, one of the guards was gunned down near his home.

In the last few months the Mexican Army has tried to uild citizen support to take back their neighborhoods only to find a daily stream of non-cartel corpses with their tongues cut out.

Plan Merida will likely have little effect on the current crisis. Food and fuel price hikes will likely add to the social chaos. more criminal gangs will grow fearless and the government will get less immune to compromise.

As we speak, more of the NAFTA based commerce is moving their production plants to Asia.

As Simon Bolivar once said, "....so far from God, so close to the United States".

Ron Tisdale

06-02-2008, 10:16 AM

My condolences to the family. And to the people who must live this nightmare daily.

Best,
Ron

Chris Parkerson

06-03-2008, 05:54 AM

My condolences to the family. And to the people who must live this nightmare daily.

Best,
Ron

The Valentine's Day Massacer "Over and Over Again"

Here is some data from this last month in Mexico.

493 drug-related killings in Mexico last Month
64 police officers killed last Month
(The average has been 27 police killed per month for this year showing the intense escalation as summer approaches.

The violence is concentrated primarily in areas controlled by the Juarez cartel, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, and the Beltran Leyva brothers.

Chihuahua and Sinaloa states account for more than 50 percent of the killings, followed by Guerrero, Durango, Sonora, and Baja California states. Oddly enough, Gulf territory states like Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas accounted for less than 3 percent of the killings.